Hiya folks, DAGS and no responses so here goes.
Anyone have any experiences with the newer Veritas Sharpening system, the MKII? Just curious to know how well it works. I would be using it, or something similar to do mostly chisels and plane blades. Thanks. cc
I spent some time looking at it at the WW show last weekend. It's nice, well built, and blah, blah, blah.
However it appears that sharpening a wide blade like a plane blade will be tricky due to the relative linear speeds of the wheel against the blade. That part of the blade close to the center of the wheel will get much less grinding than that further out. Technique may be able to compensate - I don't know for sure.
The real gotcha for me was the price. $400 buys one hell of a lot of sandpaper for scary sharp!
Art
I would also be interested to see if anybody has tried it out.
You might try searching for their original sharpening system. For some reason it got the nickname "NUSS," so DAGS on that.
Mark
I was thinking the same thought. Might just shoot Lee Valley an email to ask. They've always come through on questions like that.
Yes, the cost would sure buy a lot of paper! But it seems to take me forever to get a plane blade sharpened. Of course, I'm sharpening blades from Ebay planes so I suppose they usually need a bit of work. I think I'll keep working on my technique! Thanks for the reply. cc
I rehab ebay planes too and use a grinder to get the blades ready for honing w/ scary sharp. You can duplicate my grinder setup and still have plenty of bucks left over from the $400 to buy sandpaper.
James, you may be starting with too fine a grit of paper on your ScarySharpening. When I need to fix a badly nicked tool I start with 220 or even 180. It doesn't take too long if you move up progressively through the grits, not skipping any, and changing direction 90 degrees with each grit (helps make sure you've gotten rid of all the previous scratches).
-Hi -
Just want to correct a few "errors" in your (and other) posts...the links were all to products with Canadian pricing.... (you'll notice a CDN "flag" in the upper right corner - click on it to switch to US prices)....
The $400(CDN) sharpener is $299US -
Veritas tool rest - $38.50 USD Veritas grinding jig - $18.50 USD
Cheers -
Rob Lee
Thanks Bob. Sometimes I have to start as low as 80 on some of these plane blades. Often, I get them and the previous owner has beveled them at some god awful angle and I literally have to re-bevel them. Hence the huge time sink.
I'm liking the idea of a bench grinder...although if the MKII does this as well as get me close to the final sharpening, this may be an option.
Cheers, cc
Hiya Rob, Any comments on the concern about different removal rates in relation to the location of the blade (ie. part of the blade is closer to the spindle vs. the far edge. Seems to me you'd get different removal rates)? Thanks very much. Always refreshing to see you participating in the discussions! cc
Thanks for pointing this out. The Lee Valley site has always come up for me in US$ in the past and I guess I wasn't paying attention this time. It's really easy to overlook the currency flag at the top of the page.
Art
James,
it seems to me that the section of the blade that is in contact with the part of the disk that is moving slowest would be the limiting factor. i.e., that part of the blade would control the speed the blade lowered onto the disk, assuming it was not hand held but clamped in a rest.
My 2cw
Greg
James -
I have one of these (the Mark I, which I paid for!) and haven't noticed this "effect" at all. Since the platters are flat, and the sharpening substrates are relatively thin - there's just not that much room for variation... for the edge to be significantly uneven, there'd have to be a "dishing" of the platter, or a rocking of the blade/tool being sharpened.
Cheers -
Rob
Robin Lee
I have your apron plane with the A2 iron. It is a delightful tool, a real joy to use.
I typically do not put a micro-bevel on my edged tools. I sense that the apron plane might perform a little better if I did use the micro-bevel on it.
When you developed the tool, was the use of a micro-bevel a consideration?
I sharpen with EZ laps and a leather strop charged with a sharpening compound. It fits my technique to free-hand lap the irons. If I stay with my current practice it is easier not to use the micro-bevel. :-)
Hi -
I agree with you - I prefer my apron plane to the LA version...use both, but generally reach for the Apron plane first. Don't tell anyone though...we make more on the LA plane ;)
I do put a microbevel on my plane blade. No matter how we sharpen any blade, there'll always be another (equally acceptable) way to do it... What we have stopped doing is grinding the factory bevel at lower than normal angles (say...20 deg). We used to do this, as we had thought it was much faster/easier for the customer to establish a secondary bevel at whatever they wanted (greater than 20 degrees). The "problem" we ran into was that many people just maintained the factory 20 degrees - a bit shallow for tougher woods.
Cheers -
Rob Lee
That was a quick response. I'll have to break out my Veritas Honing Jig to put the micro bevel on.
consideration?
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